Governments launched new initiatives on Saturday to bolster clean energy and to wean themselves off fossil fuels at the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, where countries are grappling with how to halt the non-stop rise in planet-warming emissions.
In one of the most widely supported initiatives, 118 governments pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 at the U.N.’s COP28 climate summit on Saturday, as a route to cut the share of fossil fuels in the world’s energy production.
The pledge was among a slew of COP28 announcements on Saturday aimed at decarbonising the energy sector – source of around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions – that included expanding nuclear power, cutting methane emissions and choking off private finance for coal power.
“This can and will help transition the world away from unabated coal,” said Sultan al-Jaber, the United Arab Emirates’ COP28 summit President.
Led by the European Union, United States and UAE, the pledge also said tripling renewable energy would help remove CO2-emitting fossil fuels from the world’s energy system by 2050 at the latest.
Backers on Saturday included Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados.
While China and India have signalled support for tripling renewable energy by 2030, neither backed the overall pledge on Saturday – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
